Slice #13 -- The Writer's Notebook

I am a member of our local art museum.  They send out emails titled Object of the Day linking to pieces in the museum and providing some info.  It's nice, and what I will imitate during the Slice of Life challenge for 2024.  Each day, I am highlighting an object used in my daily life and generating a piece of art to accompany my writing by using the AI program, Adobe Firefly.

Today... the writer's notebook.

Yesterday was the reader's notebook, so today seems like a delightful little pairing.  The real story I want to tell though is how collaborative my writer's notebook has been in the last 24 hours.  Today, took a village my friends.  Today has been a day of challenge.  In the last six hours, as my day is winding down, I've spent time in two different classes brainstorming a very small paragraph.  

Who spends hours on a paragraph, you ask?  Me... because it is going on a flyer that will be out in my community.  This paragraph was built through passing sticky notes in class (I'm not always the best student) and then through a quick write in my writer's notebook, and finally through critique in my final class up on the big screen with other teachers giving input.  This paragraph has the words and thoughts of three other colleagues, and I know it is better for it.  

I think the writer's notebook is often seen as this private thing, but I wanted to give you a slice of how many other voices are in mine.  Here's what we crafted (which doesn't totally make sense out of context, but oh well!):

Writing Makes Thinking Visible.

With this in mind, Gateway Writing Project believes that all teachers are teachers of writing and those who teach should also do--teachers who write are better teachers of writing.

When teachers write beside their students, shifts begin to happen in the classroom. Teacher writers raise the level of importance in the act of writing itself while bringing value to the tasks being given to students. Being a teacher writer strengthens the classroom community of writers, connects teachers more deeply to students, builds empathy alongside further understanding of students, and creates a chance to have some fun... especially when it’s outdoors!